Every three minutes, a person in the United States dies from trauma. Traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death in Americans between the ages of 1 and 44 and the leading cause of life years lost overall. Worldwide, more than 5 million people die from injuries every year.
Hemorrhage is the second leading cause of death after trauma. The main goals for treating severe blood loss are bleeding control and the restoration of lost blood volume. Blood loss often only can be interrupted via surgical repair. However, most deaths from hemorrhage occur within the first hours after injury, often before patients are able to reach a hospital. Consequently, experts regard hemorrhagic shock, the state induced by severe blood loss, as the leading cause of death that is preventable.
Thus, the development of a low-volume resuscitation composition that increases survival during the critical first hours of hemorrhagic shock would be highly desirable.